


Joy to the World

by AllegedlyActual



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode: s05e04 Detour, Gen, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 17:59:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5507423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegedlyActual/pseuds/AllegedlyActual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during Detour. Scully sings Mulder to sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Joy to the World

**Author's Note:**

> Characters and episode belong to 1013, Chris Carter, and Fox. I make no money from this work. 
> 
> For Corrin. Merry Christmas!

> _Joy to the world_
> 
> _All the boys and girls_
> 
> _Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea_
> 
> _Joy to you and me_

 

He lay in her lap, rocks and pine needles poking his hip, evening fog and fever sweat making his skin clammy.

Scully sang tunelessly, mangling Three Dog Night in a monotone that was somehow perfectly befitting their situation. Mulder knew he needed to sleep. He was injured and exhausted. Everything ached or burned, his shoulder searing. He needed to sleep, but his mind raced. They were safe for now, he knew. The forest was a cacophony of animal and insect sounds, tempered and blurred by the thickening fog.

Scully had gone quiet.

“Keep singing,” he said, settling in closer.

She sighed, annoyed. After a few seconds, she began again.

>  
> 
> _I’ll light the fire_
> 
> _You place the flowers in the vase_
> 
> _That you bought today_

 

Leave it to Scully to sing about a fire, he thought. It was subconscious. Her song choice was influenced by her failure to start a campfire earlier. He didn’t have to be a psychologist to figure that out.

Mulder’s mind took in their surroundings, trying to focus. A snap of a twig, a rusting of leaves, a nut tumbling from a tree.

 

> _Our house is a very very very fine house_

               

He smiled slightly. She sounded like she was enjoying this one. He could picture her humming this while cleaning her apartment. Dusting, hair in a ponytail, no makeup. He liked to think of Scully being domestic. She seldom relaxed, clinging to her rigid science and business suits. He respected that. He respected her. But he liked her, too. He liked her strong G-woman side, and he liked her human side- the side that flirted with him earlier.

She caressed his arm absently with her thumb as she sang. He felt humbled at that moment. He’d always seen himself as her protector, even though she’d saved his life as many times as he’d saved hers. But he was wounded, a downed giant sheltered by this tiny, fiery-haired woman with a gun in one hand and unfailing loyalty keeping her alert.

 

> _I pulled into Nazareth_
> 
> _I was feeling ‘bout half past dead_
> 
> _I just need some place_
> 
> _Where I might lay my head_

He knew she’d stay awake, even without singing. Briefly, he considered telling her to stop, but he enjoyed this. Her faltering alto the only familiar sound in the night. It gave him something to focus on. He remembered learning this one on guitar, the chord changes in the chorus clumsy at first, but now second nature. He wondered if he could ever play for her. Probably never, he thought, and certainly not this song. She’d be embarrassed. Maybe he’d make her a mix tape for her birthday.

The thought settled him. They’d laugh at the absurdity of a mix tape, at the juvenile nature of it. She’d roll her eyes, but she’d listen to it- that he was sure of. She could be a mystery to him, putting up walls to protect her vulnerabilities, yet here she was, singing songs from her childhood, letting him in. He trusted her. She would be his protector.

> _Take a load off, Annie_
> 
> _Take a load for free_
> 
> _Take a load off, Annie_
> 
> _And you put the load right on me_

               

He slept.

**Author's Note:**

> Songs mentioned include "Joy to the World," by Three Dog Night; "Our House," by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; and "The Weight," by The Band. No copyright infringement intended. I think M&S would love those songs. I use them in the story because I love them, too.


End file.
